explainer / 64 posts found
Blockchain 51% Attacks: What to Know to Stay Safe
While undoubtedly complex and necessary for the world of crypto and NFTs, the ideas that underpin and connect to blockchain technology are relatively simple to understand. One of its most important concepts is the so-called “51 percent attack:” an almost unrivaled threat to decentralized technology (and the crypto industry it supports). To understand what that is and its potential wide-reaching implications for Web3, we need to look at the fundamentals of the blockchain itself. The blockchain is a distributed digital database that moves and tracks data in blocks that link together to form a chain-like record of information flow. The […]
Behind the Crypto Hype Is a Mentality of Extreme Social Change
Ads for blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin seem to be everywhere. Crypto technologies are being promoted as a replacement for banks; a new way to buy art; the next big investment opportunity, and an essential part of the metaverse. To many, these technologies are confusing or risky. But enthusiasts ardently promote them. As a cybersecurity and social media researcher, I’ve found that behind the hype is an ideology about social change: Hardcore enthusiasts argue that crypto will get people to trust in technology rather than government, which they see as inherently untrustworthy. This ideology leads people to encourage its […]
Blockchain 101: All the Basics Explained
Web3 can be a confusing place. If you’re new, words like “blockchain,” “NFT,” and “smart contract” are opaque terms that do more to suppress curiosity than invite it. That skepticism shows up in the data: globally, just 1 in 10 working-age internet users own some form of cryptocurrency, the digital tokens needed to engage with much of the Web3 ecosystem. This is ironic, since Web3 is the latest version of the internet, founded on ideas of accessibility and equity. Don’t let the critics fool you; the stereotype that crypto and NFTs belong to an exclusive and unwelcoming “crypto bro” niche […]
Fun Fact: NFTs and Art Are Two Entirely Different Things
Not to sound like a non-fungible naysayer, but NFTs aren’t actually art. That’s the honest truth of the matter. While art is undoubtedly one of the most robust use-cases for NFTs, there’s a reason that legacy art institutions and even the powers that be at Wikipedia continue to dispel the correlation between NFTs and art. I’m not saying that the common criticisms of NFTs hold any merit — we all know that the “right-click save” argument is bogus. But there’s much more to be understood about the burgeoning blockchain-based innovation happening in the NFT space than can be pigeonholed into […]
What Happens to Your Crypto and NFTs When You Die?
Nine days into their honeymoon in December 2018 in Jaipur, India, Gerald Cotten, and Jennifer Robertson made an emergency trip to a private hospital. Cotten had come down with a severe stomachache, and after a diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis, his condition worsened severely. Blood tests pointed to septic shock as the culprit. His heart stopped, and despite doctors’ best efforts, Cotten was declared dead just 24 hours after his stomachache had begun. As the CEO and Co-Founder of QuadrigaCX, Canada’s then-biggest Bitcoin exchange, Cotten’s death soon made international headlines, but not just because of his status in the crypto world. […]
12 Historical NFTs That Shaped the Foundation of Web3
NFT archaeology is a new field of study where individuals seek to uncover the NFT projects that laid the foundations of modern culture. This work is essential, because all modern NFTs are built on the groundwork initially laid by these early relics. As an NFT archaeologist, I’ve spent a lot of time doing on-chain research and digging up old projects on Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Namecoin. However, although having an early mint date matters, what’s truly important is whether a project innovated or pushed the space forward. The recent excitement around CryptoSkulls, the second 10k PFP (profile-picture) project ever, has sparked […]
Securities and NFTs: A Legal Guide for Gamers and Game Developers
As you’ve likely experienced, games are expensive to build. Gaming companies have traditionally raised money from publishers, crowdfunding platforms (like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Gamefound), or by selling equity in the company to venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors. But with crypto, there are now two additional ways to raise money: by selling game tokens and/or NFTs. In this new paradigm, Web3 gaming companies have raised millions of dollars from traditional investors, such as venture capitalists, and a non-traditional class of participants — and the public, via public token sales and NFT mints. However, while Web3 games can open new avenues […]
Physical NFTs? One Potential Mainstream Use-Case Explained
Understandably, when most people think of NFTs, they do so under a primarily digital framework. That makes perfect sense. After all, the underlying technology that makes minting an NFT possible in the first place mostly exists as software — blockchain technology. But can NFTs be physical objects? The answer is yes. Despite how the prevailing mainstream conversation around NFTs is continually misdirected toward “expensive monkey JPEGs,” there’s so much more possible with this technology than enabling the sales of digital images. And it all starts with how people have been minting NFTs tied to physical objects. Why mint physical NFTs? […]
A Guide to Meebits: More than Just 3D CryptoPunks
Although perhaps best known for kicking off the PFP NFT craze with the CryptoPunks collection in 2017, Larva Labs didn’t rest on its heels following that massive “W.” Since then, it’s launched Autoglyphs, an on-chain generative NFT art collection, and of course, Meebits. A 20,000-piece collection of PFP NFTs hosted on the Ethereum blockchain may very well represent the future of this type of NFT. Launched in May 2021, Meebits can be viewed as the spiritual successor to the still-iconic CryptoPunks collection. And, if CryptoPunks functions as the ideal 2D avatar for Web2 social media accounts, Meebits aims to be […]
Rug Pull Comeback? Pixelmon CEO Opens Up in an Exclusive Interview
What happens when you wake up with $70 million in the bank and a tattered reputation? If you’re Martin van Blerk, the former head of Pixelmon — the infamous NFT project that spectacularly failed to live up to its promises, enraged swindled community members, and whose floor price tanked as a result — you get humbled. Before Pixelmon’s fateful February 7 launch this year, van Blerk had done an undeniably fantastic job of building up a mountain of expectations for the project, accruing more than 200,000 Twitter followers in the span of roughly a month. He did this mainly by […]